


Submission

by Aridette



Category: Assassin's Creed
Genre: M/M, The Tyranny of King Haytham AU, The Tyranny of King Washington
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-17
Updated: 2016-07-17
Packaged: 2018-07-24 13:48:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7510726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aridette/pseuds/Aridette
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After their last fight, Haytham beliefs himself under the influence of the Apple of Eden, now in the possession of his son.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Submission

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheWritingGuineapig (the_lady_aridette)](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=TheWritingGuineapig+%28the_lady_aridette%29).



> Inspired by and based on [this amazing artwork](http://guineapigprincess.tumblr.com/post/147402321464/i-finally-finished-the-tokw-fanart-d-big-thanks) by [guineapigprincess](http://guineapigprincess.tumblr.com/).

One moment everything seemed clear, bright, intense, in sharper focus than it had ever been. The next, Ratonhnhaké:ton had broken through his defenses and thrown him to the ground. They toppled through the air, before they hit the floor below. It took him a moment too long to regain his composure as he writhed on the floor. But the moment was long enough for the Apple to roll away from him, just out of reach.  
  
„You have been corrupted by the Apple’s power.“  
Ratonhnhaké:ton’s words rang through him.  
„It controls you.“  
  
It could not be. The thought was preposterous.  
And yet.  
Haytham, hurt as he was by the fall he had taken mere seconds before, was overwhelmed by the urge to get to the Apple. To grab it, use it, condemn his son to whatever fate expected him if he used the artifact on him.  
The Apple would know what to do.  
  
„No.“ Haytham groaned, his hand outstretched.  
„No!“ he yelled more to himself than Ratonhnhaké:ton.  
This was not how it was supposed to go.  
The world turned dull, the bright colors faded until they settled on a much more bearable tone.  
They had not been bearable in months.  
  
When he looked up, Ratonhnhaké:ton was limping towards him. He would take the Apple. He would take his powers. And there was nothing he could do about it.

* * *

Haytham had resigned to his fate.  
What else could he do when his own son could command him as he pleased. The Apple had that sort of power.  
On the weak-willed.  
In all those years he had never considered himself to have a weak mind.  
  
It had taken him a while to realize this, even longer to accept it as an unchangeable truth.  
Now, it had become a part of him.  
Even as he found himself at Ratonhnhaké:ton’s feet, defeated, humiliated, he wondered if it had not been for the best.  
While Ratonhnhaké:ton possessed the Apple, he possessed him. And this new development brought a strange peace with it. Between them and in Haytham’s mind.  
  
Months after his defeat, Haytham still had to hear a single command coming from Ratonhnhaké:ton’s mouth.  
  
The realization hit him one morning when he took his place once again without so much as a complaint. It shook him to his core. On the outside, he remained calm.  
He must still have been under the Apple’s influence.  
Yet he began to doubt it.  
And that doubt grew with every passing day.  
  
If it was neither the Apple nor Ratonhnhaké:ton’s command, what kept him in place?  
Safe in the vicinity of such raw power.  
He had lost himself under the influence of the artifact. But Ratonhnhaké:ton; Ratonhnhaké:ton remained unfazed. Day after day passed, yet he never gave in to the temptation.  
Unlike himself.  
  
Perhaps that was what pulled him in. This demonstration of complete and utter control.  
Had that not been what he had striven for all his live? The ultimate goal?  
Perhaps it was never meant to be him.  
Perhaps it was always meant to be Ratonhnhaké:ton.  
  
If he was quite honest with himself, he liked relinquishing his power like this, letting his son take control and trusting his instincts instead of his own.  
His own instincts had led him to be controlled by the Apple after all.  
  
Haytham closed his eyes, relaxed where he knelt at Ratonhnhaké:ton’s feet. Absentmindedly he rubbed his face against the strong leg his head rested upon.  
There were worse places. He had seen too many of them.  
This was good.  
And if this was to be as good as it ever got for him, he could live with that.

**Author's Note:**

> Special thanks to guineapigprincess, haythamsama and muigiel for the inspiration and input!!


End file.
